The new goal

Backstory: A little over three weeks ago, frustrated from getting smacked around at the $50 NL tables, I decided that I was going to move back to pure tournament play only. That meant both the usual multi-table tournament goodness, as well as sit-and-go tournaments.

After playing a few SNGs that fateful weekend, and looking at my PokerTracker numbers, and I come up with a new goal. See, I really see myself as a tournament specialist. And its pretty straightforward why: I tend to do best not in cash games, but in tournament games. Be they SNGs, or home games played tournament style, or the frequent 1000+ person Multi-Table Tournaments on Party Poker (PS: bonus code Performify for $25 free on your sign-up deposit).

So I took a look at my tournament results in PokerTracker, and set a new goal: I was going to get all my numbers in the green (as Poker Tracker shows green for positive balances and red for negative balances). Starting out three-plus weeks ago, I was in the green on the $10+1 two-table SNGs (30% ITM), the $20+2 two-table SNGs (33% ITM), the $15+1 MTT (28.57% ITM), and on freeroll MTTs.

I was in the red approximately $150 on 5+1 SNGs (single table and three table combined) and $250 down on 10+1 single table SNGs (mostly from hitting those tables very early on in my Party Poker career). I'm also slightly in the red on $20+2 MTTs (five played for 20% ITM and down about a single buy-in) and on $30+3 three-table SNGs (0/1).

So I decided I'd start at the bottom, and work my way back up. I was going to go slum it at the $5+1 single table SNGs until I was back in the green there. That would give me a sense of purpose to my play (beyond just making money and improving my game, of course), not to mention should help hone my SNG game greatly.

So three weeks later I've dug myself to green on the $5+1 SNGs. I came home from work yesterday, finished first in the two SNGs I was playing simultaneously, and that was it. Lifetime of 36.78% ITM out of 87 $5+1 SNGs played. Thirteen 1st-place finishes, five 2nd-place finishes, fourteen 3rd-place finishes, and a disappointing thirteen 4th-place finishes (for those of you not familiar with the structure, Party Poker pays out the top three spots on a single table Sit-and-Go).

So now I'm tackling the $10+1 single table SNGs. Then I'm probably going to split between the three-tables and moving up to the $20+2 single tables. And I'll continue to play the $15+1 and 20+2 $30k guaranteed tournaments as my schedule allows. I'm excited about this new initiative - it gives me a direct goal that I feel is reasonable, more than just trying to grow the bankroll and move up another limit.

Edit: SNG update for the night: ten $10+1 played, 40% ITM. Cracked out in fifth in one with AA against 99 (money in the middle pre-flop: he bet big, i re-raised half my stack, he pushed, I called) when he caught a nine on flop. That would have easily put me 50% ITM for the night. I also cracked out fourth in another losing to a six-outer (money went in on the flop) when he caught help on the turn and I didn't improve again. That would have been 60% ITM, easy. So I feel i'm right on track with the $10+1 single tables, even though the results will take a while to develop...

SNG Sunday stats

Thirteen single-table SNGs today. 53.85% ITM. 66.67% ROI. Three first place finishes, three second-place finishes, and a single third place finish.

Wil Wheaton to enter WSOP Main Event

Wil Wheaton has been "drafted" by PokerStars to appear in the main event of the World Series of Poker. Awesome news. Check it out on WWdN.

In other WSOP news, I've added a special WSOP links section to the right side of the page. Check it out for the latest and greatest from the WSOP.

In personal news, all three of my cars are going in the paper this weekend. You can check out more details here if you are interested...

Home game night

We're spreading our usual $25max No-Limit Hold'em game tonight. Any more, we spread this game twice a month, and then have a tournament game once a month.

Tonight we've got ten confirmed, another 8-10 on the bubble. Which means we'll have anywhere from eight to thirty show. If you're in/near Kansas City and want to get in future home games, drop me a comment or an email...

$15+1 on Monday night

After running two pair of SNGs (50% ITM with a first and a third) I buy in to the $15+1 tonight. I end up finishing ITM but just barely (for a $16.92 payout), bouncing out when my Ajax gets cracked.

8:40pm - Sitting at the first break, the average chipstack is T2107. I'm sitting at T2145, having bled some chips down from my highpoint of T3000. We started with 1410 entrants vying for the $21,150 prize pool, and we're down to 667 at the one hour mark.

8:50pm - Not a lot of interesting hands. I doubled up early with AJ outkicking A5 when an ace hit the flop. I bet it all the way out, but about half-pot bets until the river. He just kept calling, including when I pushed on the river. From there, I was able to bully the table for a while, raising about 4x the blinds any time I had a solid hand and either stealing the blinds or taking down the pot on the flop with a normal continuation bet.

9:00pm - Have been in only three hands so far that I've bled off chips - first raised 2x the blinds to 100 pre-flop with KJc in middle position, was re-raised another 150. I thought for a bit and elected to call, mostly because I didn't want to show that I would fold to a re-raise early. Ended up getting outkicked by AK but didn't lose that many chips as I bet the flop, he called, and then we checked down. Second, flopped a OESD from the big blind, called a small-ish bet in to a fourway pot (last to act) and then folded to a large bet on the turn when the straight didn't fill in. Finally, raised pre-flop with JJ and folded to a big bet on a scary flop of AKT. Overall, i'm doing a very good job of showing measured agression I think.

9:02pm - Now the critical time hits after the break, where the blinds are 50/100 and then 75/150, when the field starts to thin dramatically because the blinds start representing meaningful amounts compared to stack size.

9:08pm - tournament teetered at risk for the longest time while my opponent contemplated a call. Sitting at T2K and watching the average chipstack run away to over T3K, I min-raised UTG with ATo. I've been at the table a long time, cultivated a tight image, and we've got some solid players here it seems. My raise is respected by folds around, but the big blind calls. flop comes 9s, 5s, 3h and I bet out a half-pot continuation bet. Big blind calls, to my suprise. Turn is the 2c, he checks, and I push on a semi-bluff with two overcards and a gutshot draw (ten outs at most, I assume he's on a single pair). He goes through his entire time bank before electing to fold. Close call.

9:15pm - AQd in late position, I raise 4x the blinds because the BB is chipleader with almost T10k and has shown a propensity to gambool with the bigstack. She's my only caller. I catch a flop of KQT with a single diamond and I continuation bet the pot (half my stack now). She quickly folds and I'm up to T3K and only slightly off average.

9:23pm - I catch aces on both of my tables (the $15+1 and the single table SNG i'm playing simulatneously). I manage to get all-ins called on both tables and double up on both. In the $15+1, UTG+1 open limps. I'm sitting two behind him and make it 800 pre-flop (blinds are 100/200). Everyone folds except the limper calls. I catch a flop Ah, 5c, 4d. He checks and I check right behind him. Turn comes Qs. He bets half my stack, I re-raise all-in and he quickly calls. He turns over JKc and I manage to dodge the ten on the river. Hand history posted as Comment #1. Two hands later I raise 4x the blinds with 99, and a continuation bet on the flop pulls another decent pot.

9:35pm - Dealt JJ in middle position. Raise 4x the blinds, get a caller, and the jacks hold up against KQh to drag a decent pot. I'm sitting at T6165, average is T5108. 275 players left, top 180 pay.

9:45pm - I just cost myself 1/6th my stack (1000 chips). I'm in the small blind with QJo and its folded around to me. I min-raise in a semi-steal and get called. Flop comes AT4 rainbow, I bet about 1/4th the pot in continuation and he re-raises big. I fold like a scared little schoolgirl.

9:50pm - Not terrible, but I'm down to T4815 not playing a hand in the past 15 minutes other than the semi-steal that backfired. Average is T5949 and we've got 237 players remaining - 57 away from the money. I'm using the break to re-read my previous best finish in the $15+1 which won me +$1900.

10:05pm - only playable hand i've seen in the past twenty minutes was 44 on the button, but it was raised and called in front of me and I folded them. Blinded down to T4215. Average chipstack is almost T7200. 194 players left.

10:08pm - lost a big hand. Was drawing to a queen high flush and had middle pair to boot. I led at the flop with a four-flush and middle pair and my opponent called with a smaller fourflush and a gutshot (three live outs). He hit the gutshot on the turn and he bet small offering me great odds (4-1) to draw. River was a blank, but i called his river bet of 1/5th pot thinking there was a decent chance my middle pair was good. Hand history posted as Comment #2. Down to T2390 and three away from the money. I probably should have either raised bigger (T1k instead of T500) on the flop, or re-raised the river. But it was possible (but unlikely due to betting pattern and that he checked the big blind) that I was drawing dead all along to a made flush to the A/K.

10:16pm - After seeing the table deliver two bad beats in a row, UTG I push with AJo. I'm called by the button, and while I'm waiting for his cards to turn over I chant "ace ten, ace ten". Sure enough, the poker gods deliver and he turns over ATs. I catch a jack on the flop but he catches two spades. The river is a spade but pairs the board, so at least i'm drawing live to four outs to fill in the boat, but insult-to-injury the river is another spade and I'm bounced in 163rd place. Next two contested hands are also bad beats, with aces cracked by AT which catches a straight, and AJ losing to KQ. Someone comments that the table has gone mad. Indeed...

My payout for finishing 163/1410 in the $15+1? $16.92. A whopping ninety-three cents in the green. Well, at least I finished 1st and 3rd in the two SNGs I played while grinding through the field as well as two more ITM SNG finishes pre-tourney. Overall a good night of poker - in the words of Bill Filmaff - PLUS EEEE VEEEE!

SNG Saturday

Took the girl i've been dating (I use the term losely, as most of the time it seems like we're destined to be nothing more than good friends) home around 10am, came home and watched the 2004 WPT Championship off the tivo. Properly inspired, I then hopped online and spent the afternoon playing sit and go's.

Final results, thanks to Poker Tracker: 12 tournaments, 50% ITM for an ROI of 52.78%. Three 1st place finishes, one 2nd place, and two 3rd place. Solid day of poker.

"I started looking and the bubble burst..."

Eight single table Sit-and-Go's tonight. Decent ITM of 37.5%, but a very disappointing three fourth-place (aka bubble burst) finshes. Had I manged to convert even one of those bubble finishes, I would have ITM'd at least 50%.

On the first bubble, with one limper I raise to 4x the blind (slightly more than half my stack) from the SB holding two beautiful aces. I only raised half my stack as I really wanted a caller, i hate to see aces just pull the blinds at this stage of the tournament. BB is the chipleader (10x my stack) and calls. Flop comes TJK all hearts. Sadly neither of my aces is the heart, although I look several times in desperation to make sure. I push (3/4th the pot) and he calls and turns over Jc9s. Surprising call, but he does have a ton of chips. I'm definitely ahead - he's only sitting on five outs - the three remaining nines for two pair, two remaining jacks for trips. Note that the four remaining queens will give him the sucker straight, which I'd beat with my ace-high straight. The World Poker Tour overlay graphic would be showing 80%-20% right now. The turn is a blank and now the rockets are a 90% favorite, but the river flows the nine of hearts and the chips slide across the table. Bubbled out in fourth.

On the second bubble, I am again shortstacked (3rd and 2nd have double my chips, the chipleader has 10x my stack). UTG limps, I push (10x the blinds) with JsQd. I'm called by the chipleader from the big blind holding pocket helmuths. Probably too agressive, but the coinflip scenario with two overcards versus his nines isn't the worst place to be sitting. Flop comes TT2 with two diamonds. Turn drops the offsuit king, so now I've got an OESD plus two overcards - except the bottom half of my straight would be a nine, thus handing my opponent a full house. So I'm really looking at 10 outs (4xA, 3xQ, 3xJ) for the river so I'm a 3.6-1 underdog. River drops another ten and I'm bubbled out for the second time tonight.

Finally, in the most interesting hand of the bubble finishes: I was in the big blind with 68c and T720 remaining in chips after posting. Small stack is on the button (UTG+1) with T562. UTG (chipleader with T3200 in chips) raises to 600. Small stack calls all-in for their last 562. Small blind (T2400) calls. So its 300 to me with 1462 in the pot. Pot odds look really attractive, even with the suited one-off connectors. I'll have T420 left if the flop whifs completely, since with the small stack being chased by two players odds are I'll finish ITM if I let them battle it out. And there's a shot i'll flop a monster and (say OESD or fourflush or two pair) and jump up enough to swing for 1st/2nd instead of just battling for 3rd. So I call...

Flop comes 9d6d8s. I've flopped two pair. Its checked to me, and I push my remaining 420 in the pot thinking I'm probably golden. In retrospect its a slightly marginal call with the diamonds out there, but even if I bust to one of the big stacks, as long as the small stack doesn't win the side pot I'll finish 3rd, since I started the hand with more chips than he did. Both big stacks call my bet, and the turn is the 2d dropping three diamonds on board.

Scare card for sure. First to act checks, chipleader fires 500 in to the 3600 pot. First to act check-raises all-in for another 1000 and the chipleader folds. So I get to see their hands now - small stack turns over 9Ts. Bigstack turns over AdTh. OK, not so bad at all. I've got the best hand currently, and need to dodge a diamond or a seven (13 outs) to win the main pot, or a ten or seven (seven outs for the small stack) to at least not lose the sidepot and guarantee a third place finish.

River drops the Ten of spades. Yeah. Sidepot gets chopped between the smallstack and the new chipleader. I'm bubbled out in fourth for the third time tonight. Hand history posted in the comments. Still, a solid night of SNG poker.

Dunno about the queens...

...but I think the Jack was high. Hilton Sisters turned in to quad queens in a SNG earlier this week. I got my money in the middle with QQ versus AKs so it was nice to see the slight edge decided very heavily in my favor. In my defense, I was confident based on previous betting patterns that this guy would have bet the same with a number of weak hands, including middle pairs. Anyways, hand history posted as Comment #1.

Yeah, that's right. SNGs again. Taking recent advice from Human Head, i've elected to step back in to SNG form. I'm slightly above 40% lifetime ITM for 2-table $10+1 SNGs with a 200% ROI so I consider those my ATM. After getting beaten up pretty badly at the $50 NL tables last week, i'm going to roll with just my tournament and SNG games for the time being. Probably just the nightly $15+1 MTT as well as $10+1 and $20+2 2-table SNGs, for the next week or so. I intend to grind back out some of the recent losses via the ATM, and then i'll give the NL tables another shot.

One more week of beatings @ $50NL like I took last week, and I'll be stepping back down to the $25NL tables.

Update: i'm sitting about 50% ITM for SNGs played in the last two days including two first place finishes. Definately a good result, and helping to re-boost the confidence. However, the highlight of the week so far has been my roommate dropping the Krablar complete with "crab dancing" in chat... check out Comment #2 for more.

Excellent WSOP Coverage from Pauly

FYI Pauly's "Tao of Poker" blog has by far the best WSOP coverage of anyone going. Next best thing to being at the event. I was at the finals last year, and i'm still evaluating flying down for the main event this year.

In personal poker news, I'm just getting railed at the $50 NL tables this week. You may want to come look for me and help yourself to some of my chips. Might as well be giving them to people I know, as I seem to be content to hand them to anyone who asks.

The worst part is that its not just bad beats, like the runner runner straight that cracked my aces for a $90 pot yesterday, or the runner runner straight that cracked my trip sevens a few minutes ago. Its taking a flop with AKd and the flop comes 9TJ of hearts and having two people bet in to me. Or getting my money in the middle with an overpair against someone holding TPTK and having them draw out on me on the river (comment #1).

It just seems that the poker monkey-gods are throwing some feces in my direction this week, and every flop I take is about the worst possible flop for whatever two cards I happen to be holding at the time. Yeah, i know, I'm rehashing bad beats and its breaking rule #1 of the poker blogersphere. Feel free to meet me at a $50 NL table this weekend and take some of my money in cruel retribution.

Frustrating thing is, I feel like I'm playing good poker. I played some excellent poker last night to grind my way back to nearly even for the session after losing at least two buy-ins early. 430 hands last night with a rate of (6.42)BB/100. Tonight's final stats: 464 hands @ (37)BB/100. Yeah. That's slightly more than three buyins. VP$IP of 27.5% for the session with an agression factor of 3.3 excluding pre-flop (1.16 including pre-flop AF of .53, with an impressive 5.6 flop AF and 3.0 river AF). I feel i'm playing my usual agressive game and playing decently tight for my style, but the bankroll just keeps dwindling this week.

I may take a break from the tables this weekend, despite a complete lack of plans for the weekend excluding a dinner+movie appointment Sunday night.

TPS Report for 6-7

Tuesday's Poker Status Report. Yes, I used the new cover sheet.

Played about 45 minutes of $50 NLHE when I got home from work. First hand I'm dealt AKc, catch a flop of KK6 and end up losing my stack to pocket sixes. Ooof. Ended up losing another half-buyin as well. Not a good night at the no limit tables.

Went to a local Amateur Poker event with a couple friends and washed out early there. Got my money in the middle with TPTK and get called by two overcards. Of course he catches his six-outer and I'm crippled early. I then went out on an OESD against someone who called my all-in with second pair. Crazy how those amateur freerolls play - makes the freerolls on Party look like the WSOP.

Luckily made it home with four minutes to spare for the $20+2 $30k guaranteed. 1785 Entrants for $35,700 prize pool. Seventh place makes over a grand, with top prize of ~$7500. I've yet to see an overlay from Party, so they've got to be happy with the results of setting these up. Running log of interesting play there:

9:09pm - after not playing a single hand the first blind level, I'm dealt aces UTG. I try to make an odd raise and the slider gets off kilter and i'm no where near my wireless keyboard, so I just limp. Flop comes king high and I slowplay all the way, and end up almost doubling up to T1780 when someone else thinks their KQo is good. Average stack is around T1300 so I'm starting OK.

9:35pm - no playable hands in forever. I am playing a little tighter poker than normal, but the cards just aren't flowing these past few days. 48s in the big blind sees a free flop of 5h, 2s, 3s. I lead out with a pot-sized bet and take down a small pot. Even so, average chipcount just caught up to my stack of T1600.

9:40pm - limp pocket fives from early position. One other limper + both blinds limp. I catch a five on the flop but two hearts hit as well. I make a half-pot bet, scared to slow-play any more than that, and take down the small pot. Two hands later I try limp pocket sevens, call a small raise from the BB, and fold a scary flop to what turn out to be rockets. I am right back to T1600, average chipstack now ~T1750. Good news is that we've already thinned almost half the field.

9:50pm - First break. I'm sitting at T1520, eighth in chips at my table. We've cycled through a lot more players than usual. Average chipstack is almost T2k. 912 players remaing. I'm playing positionally tighter than usual, which I'd like to think is a VGT.

10:02pm - Blinds at 50/100. AKd in early position, I min-raise and steal the blinds. Hey kids, free pass through the blinds this round! Except three hands later I complete from the small blind with KTc when three other people limp in front of me. Flop of Qc, 5c, Td. First to act, I push my remaining T1200 in to the T400 pot fully expecting to be called, but end up taking down the pot. A pass through the (now) 75/150 blinds and I'm at T1500. We're down to 650 players, average chipstack just over T2800.

10:23pm - My latest re-read of T.J. Cloutier's Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em has really had an effect on my tournament game. I'm playing less strength in early position pre-flop with hands that can't stand a re-raise. For example I've folded 88, 99 and TT from UTG or UTG+1 three times tonight. Normally i'd try to limp those hands, even when the limp is about 1/10th my stack (like it is now). But I'm laying them down instead. I also just folded AKo in the BB to an early position all-in, which I would have usually called (probably to my detriment). I might be giving my opponents too much credit, but I'm certainly playing noticably tighter especially in early positions. Blinds now 100/200. Down to T1270, average stack is T3500 and we're down to 519 players.

10:39pm - last pass through the 100/200 blind left me under T1k and a huge underdog at my table. When its folded to me two off the button, I push on a semi-bluff with 78h and am called by A8s. Didn't terribly mind the caller as I know I'm going to have to get lucky to get back in this, but when he's got me dominated (holding one of my two cards, with a better kicker) its a bad situation. No miracles and I'm out in 419th.

I feel I played solid tournament poker tonight though. I'm happy with my play overall.

Raise'n Fold... just a little bit

Played two tournaments tonight - the nightly $15+1 and the $20+2 $30k guaranteed. Finished pretty poorly in both - made a very bad semi-bluff play too early in the $15+1 and got picked off. In the $20+2, crippled myself early misplaying trips versus a straight - did NOT read the straight as he was very passive (not tricky, just passive) and put more money in the pot than I should have on the river when my trip card hit. He caught his straight on the turn but didn't seem to like it, and check-called when the board paired the river (scared of the flush or bigger straight i guess, or just overly passive).

Played a decent amount of $50 NLHE Friday, Sunday + today. Poker tracker reports a downswing of -6.5BB/Hr for the three days, with only one major winning session (27.21 BB/Hr over +2 hours). I feel like i've been playing decent cards. My rating using these rules is still sLAA. But i've taken some good knocks. Sunday + Today i'm +5 BB/Hr combined, so it was mostly taking some big knocks on Friday and not being able to make them up in the short term. Such is poker...

Friday Night $15+1

The Nightly $15+1 No Limit Hold'em: 1580 entrants, $23,700 prize pool, first prize of $5k.

7:44pm - second hand, QTh catches a ten on the flop, sees the turn for free where I catch another ten. Jump to T1400.

8:10pm - after bleeding off chips for a while, I limp "Pocket Threeve" from early position, catch trip threes when the third falls on the flop, and drag a small pot to jump back to T940. Average chipstack is T1321.

8:19pm - win two small pots in a row with KQh and JJ to climb to T1055. Average chipstack now almost T1500. 500 players out, 1080 left.

8:44pm - First break. Sitting at T940, average chipstack is T2075, 760 players remain. First hand back i'm in the big blind, and double up when I push with an open-end straight draw on the flop and catch it on the turn. Very next hand I complete with A6o from the small blind, bet it out when I catch an ace on the flop, and run in to slow-played trip deuces and drop back down to T1060. Bah.

9:20pm - With no real hands to play in forever and down to just over 4x the blinds, I push from middle position with A5c and am called by ATo from the SB. Flop comes Tc, 5h, Ts, Ouch. I need runner-runner clubs or the miracle runner-runner fives for quads. Turn is the queen of clubs so I'm still drawing live, but the river falls the seven of hearts. Out in 456th place.

Friday night $20+2

1310 Entrants, $26,200 prize pool. Sixth is over $1k, first is $5500. Top 140 pay.

6:50pm - my first pot. K4c one off the button. Folded to me, I double the blinds. BB raises to 70 and I call. Flop comes K22, the blind raises 250. I think a long time and fold. Probably a weak laydown, on further reflection, as i'd imagine he was representing a medium pocket pair, but I didn't want to push and bust out on my first hand. However the nightly $15+1 starts in about an hour, so I guess I can play a little looser with a second tournament to run shortly.

7:15pm - not catching any cards, I play my second pot. K9c catches a flop of K73 one club. I raise and am called. Turn comes another king. I raise, someone re-raises, I push, he calls - he turns pocket sevens for the slowplayed boat. I have only seven outs on the river and can't catch the miracle. I've got 120 chips left, I push next hand with J9s, am called by ATo, neither of us improve and i'm out in 994th.

Oh well. 24 minutes before the 15+1 starts...

$30k Guaranteed - well, not really

Entered the $20+2 $30k Guaranteed after washing out of the night's $15+1 too quickly. 1860 entrants, $37,200 prize pool. Top 220 pay, seventh paying $1.1k and progressing nicely from there to almost $8k for first place. Unfortunately the tournament (and all of Party Poker, it seemed) crashed at 10:45. Party Poker policy is to split the pool among the remaining entrants in the event of a technical malfunction, so I ended up getting paid out $86.90 based on my chipstack at the time the tournament crashed.

As usual, here's a running log of my play:

9:30pm - lots going on around the house so not a lot of time to blog this. But i've been catching cards like crazy. I won the first hand with A8c and have been chiplead at my table ever since. Currently sitting T3670, average for the tournament is T1606. 1159 players left.

9:50pm - first break. Bled off a little chips when I raised preflop with AJo and a smallstack pushed. I called, he turned over T9d but caught a nine on the flop and I didn't improve. Sitting T3290, third at my table. Average is T1960, 949 players remaining.

10:05pm - have mostly been bleeding off chips, but Jack-King-Off pulls a small pot and I'm back near T3K. Average is almost T2500, 725 players remaining. Blinds just bumped to 75/150 and are starting to become a real factor as there are a significant number of players hanging around below 1k.

10:15pm - Doubled the blinds on two different strong hands, got too many callers, and caught no help on the flop either time. I'm catching strong cards (suited aces, AQo, KQs, etc) but no help on the flops. After a pass through the blinds catching nothing, I'm sitting below average for the first time all tournament with T2K. Average stack just passed T3K. 570 players left. Time to double-through...

10:25pm - AQs on the button. Blinds now at 100/200. Three people try to limp, I push and everyone including the blinds folds. I add T900 to my stack, to climb to T2750. Not quite a double-up but a necessary chip injection. Average is T3750, 494 players remain.

10:40pm - I make a pass through the blinds, then our table gets busted and I'm dropped in the big blind next hand as well. So two consecutive passes on four hands. I drop to T2K. I then get ATs on the button and push when two people try to limp, a third raises double the blinds. The raiser calls and turns over KK, but I catch not one but two aces and double up. Hand history posted as Comment #1. Next hand I drop a little cash limping sixes, end up heads-up against the BB. I raise a flop of rags but am check-raised all-in and can't call. Sitting T3500 after passing the blinds again, and the table busts up. Average chipstack at this point is T5K, blinds are 150/300. 372 players remain, top 220 pay so we're more than halfway to the money.

10:45pm - Network problem? Party Poker crashes? We get the message that there's a problem, to close the window back to the lobby, and take our seat again. Can't seem to do that... Tried closing the lobby and re-launching, no dice.

11:55pm - Party Poker still offline... heading to bed.

9:00am next day - turns out my payout for last night's aborted tournament was $86.90. Well, I guess that's another money finish, but I'd like to think I could have finished even higher.

one-for-two on $15+1 MTTs

Sat my second $15+1 MTT tonight (after finishing third in my first attempt where I pulled down a $2k prize). This one started 1948 entrants on 199 tables, with top six paying out over a grand each and first prize just over $6k. Per usual, running log of interesting hands:

8:00pm - won just one hand at the first blind level, when K8o caught a king-high flop from the small blind and a pot-sized bet from early position took it down.

8:17pm - played literally one other hand besides this one, my last. A8s in the small blind. Min raised in middle position, five people see the flop: 9s, Qc, 6s. UTG bets the pot (330) next position raises all-in to T370 total. Next player calls! No decision at all: I move all-in (T805 total), one player folds and the two others call. Perfect.

The ace of clubs falls on the turn, improving my situation slightly. Both live players check, and the river falls the king of clubs. First to act pushes and his opponent calls. Winning player turns JsTs for a completed straight, beating the small stack's trip nines and my third-best aces, and knocking out three players at once. Hand history posted as Comment #1.

Ah, well. I had the best of it mathmatically, getting my money in the middle with 3.5-1 pot odds on a 1.86-1 draw to the nut flush. Now I can eye the $20+2 $30k guaranteed that starts in a few minutes...

Poker Books I Recommend

I've posted a write-up on Poker Books I Recommend. Because its long, i've elected to back-date the post a year and just link to the archive from the front page here. I've also re-arranged slightly the links section to the right, and as you may have noticed I've added Google's Adsense advertising to suppliment my existing Adbrite service.